I LOVE this age

         I keep telling Cale how great Jake is and how much fun he is RIGHT now. He's old enough he's starting to interact, but still my little baby. What's more, I'm getting comfortable now, and more confident in the choices I make.

          We've been dealing with some teething issues I'm pretty sure. There have been two situations in Jake's life that he has cried in pain, and I know it was pain, when he got his shots, and when I accidentally nipped the end of his thumb with the nail clippers. These cries are cemented in my memory, because they shattered my heart, so when I see them I'm assuming it's teething, combined with suddenly loving to gum everything, and massive amounts of drool.  Friends of mine have mentioned Camilia drops, and they have worked WELL. Since then I've been getting myself aware of suppliers.

         I think we also might be dealing with some sleep regression. I've started doing a LOT of research on 4 month sleep regression. Apparently with babies, there are multiple times in a baby's development that they deal with sleep regression, but the 4 month mark is a little different than the others. In a nutshell this is when babies start to develop their REM sleep patterns. There are those who say that the way to "survive" it is teaching your child to self-sooth and learn to put themselves back to sleep. We have had nights where Jake has gotten up only once, we've even had one sleep through the night. So when every hour and a half started, it kind of stood out.

          We've been focusing on proper naps, and an earlier bedtime, and it's been working well. What's more encouraging him to get himself back to sleep when he wakes up. Now we're not 100% leaving him to his own devices, we purchased a new sound machine that has music options for settling and soothing, and it REALLY seems to do the trick, even better than the white noise we used before. Last night he woke up 2 hours after he went to bed, and went back to sleep on his own. I didn't actually have to get up with him until 3am, it was amazing.

         Here is confession time, I am developing one kind of bad habit with him, and I'm not sorry for doing it...we'll see down the road. Jake usually wakes up between 5 and 6:30. As a fan of sleep I tried something one morning, and it has become our morning thing now. I nurse Jake laying on my side for a short period of time, and we go back to sleep in our bed. I know it's not a deep sleep because I'm very much aware of him being there, but that little bit of extra rest and of course the snuggles, get me ready for our day.

         I stand by what I said, I love this age.

K, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy

Mom-Shaming

       

For years, I was afraid to have a child, because I was worried I would screw one little thing up, and lose my child. It comes off as that easy, or at least it did to me. I had a situation with Jake about two weeks ago, where I was on the phone because he'd gotten too much tylenol, because I was overwhelmed and misread the dosage. In my mind, that was it, I was the worst mom ever. In fact, the woman on the line after getting all the details told me step one, was to not be so hard on myself. It was a jolt, I'm a mom, but I'm human, and I will make mistakes. Jake was fine, it was only a little too much, and there will be things to happen over the years that will make me feel awful, and partially because they will, accidentally, be my fault.


          So why am I so hard on myself? Because other people are. I'm talking about Mom-Shaming. Now, I have a support system in place, and these are not typically the cause of me second guessing...not that they never are, because undermining or questioning things I do, put that uncertainty in my head. I promise, 90% of the things I do for Jake I do a vast amount of research for first, and look at different angles, and figure out what works best for us. I've come to realize, no one knows my kid better than I do (Cale is a close second).


         I think it's safe to say that a MAJOR portion of stress for a mom is coming from Mom-Shaming, if it's directed at you or not, it can affect you. It can also make women very defensive. I posted on a group chat I'm part of about my breast feeding early on, and how it wasn't going well. I'm not sure if it was shaming or defensiveness, but I had a woman FREAK, and drag me over the coals because she thought I was bashing formula feeding. I'd like to be very clear on my stance on things. I do not assume I know better than anyone else how to parent, I assume I know better than anyone else how to parent MY son, but that's as far as that goes. I also don't think there is any "One Size Fits All" approach to raising a child. IE I breastfeed Jake, but if we had a second, I don't know I would again. When I do my breastfeeding post I will go into greater detail.

       What this all boils down to, I'm shaming Mom-Shaming.  Moms, you may not agree with my methods, I might not agree with yours, but we're all just doing our best. Unless a mother is doing something that is actually HARMING a child, who are any of us to judge? We're all trying to keep our heads above water, let's not tie weights to each other's ankles.

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy

Happy Birthday/ Father's Day

       

This weekend is Father's day, but on top of that, it's also Cale's birthday. This post is basically going to be gushing about how great he is, so heads up.

          Cale has been incredible to me over the years, he's an amazing person. Long before we ever knew that we would be more than a college romance, he got up in the middle of the night in a snow storm to drive me to the hospital, for something that a boyfriend of less than a year probably shouldn't have to face, and yet he held my hand through it. He moved to Saint John for me. I had a job offer in the field I wanted, and he wanted me, so he followed me. I swore up and down, I would never be married, and never have kids. He has been the exception to  that rule. A few years ago, I realized Cale's life goal was nothing to do with career, like so many people I know, but to have a family. This is why I decided to start one with him, he has been so incredible I thought how it was something I would want to share with him.

         Fast forward to last year. Through my pregnancy, there were conflicts with my health, and I was at the hospital, weekly, and honestly twice a week was the norm. I was more than once admitted, and he didn't blink, he jumped to whatever I needed. Through labour, I would never have gotten through that without him, and what's more he tells me to this day how great I did, the man is my biggest fan, as I am his.

        Since Jake has been born he has been everything. Putting Jake down to get something done for 5 min was out of the question until about the last 3 weeks, and Cale did everything that needed to be done around the house. Was it always perfect? No, but so much better than it would have been had we been relying on me. While all of these things are absolutely wonderful, I think my favorite thing to see with him is his relationship with Jake. Jake is not a little boy who wants his mommy and only his mommy, daddy is right on par with me, he thinks the world of him. What's more Cale insisted on getting up with me for night feedings, and when I didn't wake him, he would ask me why. I'm not sure if it's just his desire to be a wonderful father, or that he knew as far as a dad goes, I have pretty high standards, but he has met and exceeded every expectation I have had.

        With all this being said, I think that Cale deserves the greatest Birthday wishes, and the Happiest first Father's day ever.

k Cale, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy

Breaking my Heart

         

We took Jake on his first road trip over the weekend, to Gramma and Grampa's house. He was absolutely fantastic, we actually had a night where he slept through the night. While we were there, we saw the warning signs. Drooling, chewing on hands, teething was coming. Now he hasn't cut his first tooth, but now that we're home, we're into teething.

           Absolutely breaking my heart, he was awake less than every two hours last night crying, generally the max we see him up is twice. We've been trying for an hour and a half to get him down now, Cale has tagged me out...and I hear him still crying down the hall, so this will likely be a short post. Worst feeling in the world hearing him like this, and being basically powerless. Friends recommended camilia drops, and last night they worked to settle him, he's a little rougher to deal with tonight. What's more is we were pretty sure he got his father's cold...but I haven't heard a cough in a while, and lots of clearing out of the sinuses has been happening, so I'm thinking that might be a wrap. *update* things just went quiet down the hall.

          I'm not for a second complaining about the crying, or how many times we were up last night. What's killing me is I hate to see him like this. I know this is something everyone gets through, and so will I. I'm just at the beginning though, and know my baby is in pain, I'm not sure that's something to completely get over, you just learn to deal I suppose...I'm not there yet.

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy

Coming September 15th!

         

          Holy crap I'm not posting about my kid...entirely, I'm sure he will be mentioned at some point. It's just over 3 months until my Christmas planning series starts up again! My blog has become more popular again since last year, and yes I will be doing it all again, because I freakin love it. If you haven't followed the series in the past, let me break it down for you. Starting September 15th (101 days before)I start a Christmas planning blog, it highlights what I'm doing and helps you to organize and get ready WELL in advance for the big day to try and keep you from going crazy. If you have followed in the past, you know this is the 3rd year, and just like last year, Cale will play a BIG part in the planning and prepping. Christmas is really my thing, and Cale usually just lets me do my thing, where I was working in retail, and pregnant last year, a lot got put on Cale. This year, while I physically can do much more, and I'm not working in retail, I'm now doing the mom thing, so Cale will still play a big role, even if it's watching Jake while I do stuff. That being said, I kind of like the team effort. The year after it will be the mom thing and retail...so if I do the blog that year, I might even want to start MYSELF earlier. 

          This post is as a reminder that it is returning, and a couple notes to go along with it. One, do things through the year. This is generally designated to gifts, even if it's just getting ideas. In the last month, I got ideas for 3 people on my list, and really, I SHOULD be getting the gifts now because it's less money I will have to worry about spending down the road. Over the summer, it could potentially be getting things for decorations too. There are two stops we make when we go to Cape Breton, and I love the Christmas stuff they carry. If we get up this year, I will likely grab a few things. Another thing to consider that actually didn't occur to me until this year is considering if your family dynamic has changed. That is something I obviously will be looking at this year with Jake arriving. My best friend's daughter made us a baby's first Christmas ornament already, because she knows how much I love Christmas. I'll likely get another one as well, but she made us the very first. I know this is something I have a few friends who will have to consider this. We all want to do all these things with our little ones, but lets be honest here, there are limitations because of the little ones too. Another thing I will have to consider with Jake is baby proofing our Christmas...should be interesting. 

          The very last thing I want to cover in this post is how I share it. When any post of mine comes out I share it on Pinterest, and on Facebook, both on my personal page, and on my fan page. At the end of the series last year, I saw the growth and saw that I had several people who watched it regularly. That's why this year in addition to those places on fb, I have put out the offer to share it directly to your Facebook wall, so you never miss a post. I have a list of people who are interested in this already, if you would like to add your name to that list, please let me know. 

K, Luv Ya, Bye!

Nancy